Coolbaugh Township continues to debate the merits of its relationship with the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department, and on Tuesday its residents sounded off.

MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Coolbaugh Township continues to debate the merits of its relationship with the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department, and on Tuesday its residents sounded off.

A standing-room-only crowd of about 100, according to officials, sat in on a meeting between the township and its regional police force as the locality mulls its future with the department.

Board of Supervisors Chairman John Adams said he believed the overall tone of the meeting was both positive and still somewhat critical.

"It was a little bit of both," he said. "I thought it was very informative."

Vice Chairman Bob Zito said he saw progress at the meeting — even if he thought the meeting was a little more confrontational than he would have liked.

"I think there is a lot of common ground," he said. "There are issues we all have to be comfortable with going forward."

In December, the township penned a letter to the department's commission stating its intention to leave the four-municipality department at the start of 2014.

The letter doesn't mean it will leave. The township can rescind its letter by the end of this year.

Mount Pocono wrote a similar letter a few days after Coolbaugh in December.

Tobyhanna and Tunkhannock townships, the other two municipalities covered by the department, did not send a intent-to-leave letters.

Chief Harry Lewis went through a list of township concerns and tried to answer them as closely as he could.

However, he said the general nature of the questions made it more difficult.

"They didn't have anything to do with the daily operations of the department," he said. "They're more financial, so it's tougher to answer."

Phyllis Haase, president of A Pocono Country Place, said she's heard a multitude of concerns from residents on what would happen if the township left the department.

She said it's "disturbing" that the supervisors weren't able to give facts on what it takes to start a Coolbaugh police department if the township chose that route.

She said many of the development's 13,000 residents are worried about the level of police protection without the regional cops, the time a new department could spend in the development, and how property values could shrink without the regional department's coverage.

"Who's going to want to move into Coolbaugh Township and invest money in a home with this going on?" she asked. "How is that fair to the taxpayers?"

Zito cautioned those blasting the township's study of the department that the supervisors are residents and are just as affected by any police decision.

"We're not insulated," he said. "Why would we do anything to deliberately harm our township, our families or our property? We're going to look at this very, very closely and come up with the best solution for the township."

Zito said his two main concerns are getting GPS tracking devices in police cars — a concern he said is a "deal-breaker" for him — and establishing a better line of communication between the department and the supervisors.

He said he has fielded complaints from township residents about the lack of police visibility, and said he wants evidence — like a police cruiser's tracking record from a GPS device — he can show residents how much police protection the township receives.

"I'm not saying the department is wrong in what it reports us," he said. "I just want something in black and white I can show residents when I'm asked about it."

Supervisor Jim Frutchey, who sits on the police commission, said he wasn't going to make his own concerns with the department public, but said they're very minor.

"I hope everything can be worked out," he said. "I think it can."

Adams said the township will continue the public dialogue concerning its future with the department at its regular, public meetings at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.